Screw dislocation mediated solution strengthening of substitutional α-Ti alloys - First principles investigation

The mechanical properties of hexagonal Ti alloys depend substantially on the glide of type screw dislocations. The configurations and stabilities of these line defects are, however, known only in pure Ti and Ti + O solutions, where the locking-unlocking mechanism and a strong pinning effect control their activity. In this study, we investigated the unclear, screw dislocation mediated solution strengthening of substitutional α-Ti alloys. To this end, a first principle computational scheme was used to determine the structures and energies of the considered line defects during planar and cross-slip processes in the vicinity of the solute element. Two phenomena were determined that are crucial in terms of plastic deformation: (i) enhanced polymorphism of the dislocation cores leading to multiple new core configurations, and (ii) relatively large positive and negative interaction energies between the solutes and the line defects. Both these effects are strongly affected by the valence configuration of the alloying elements. Due to their pronounced structure and energy variations, dislocation planar and cross slip processes can occur under different scenarios, through diverse non-planar core geometries. Accordingly, an improvement in material strength is related to the overall energy amplitude of the dislocation states that can occur in the neighbourhood of the alloying element, which agrees well with experimental data. The calculations performed also indicate In as a potential alloy element for improving both the strength and ductility of Ti by stabilizing a special, compact core geometry able to spread on an arbitrary glide plane with a low energy barrier. All of the above effects are discussed in terms of the physical factors (solute size misfit, stacking fault energy and electronic structure) that affect the energy and geometry of dislocation cores.

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